Lab-grown coronary bypass graft still working well 2 years after implantation
An off-the-shelf bioengineered blood vessel has been associated with positive two-year clinical data, offering hope that it this technology may go on to help clinicians avoid the need to harvest vessels for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures. That's all according to new findings presented at the European Association for Cardio Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) 2026 meeting in Barcelona, Spain.
The vascular implants are designed to regenerate with the patient’s own living tissue. Developed by St. Paul, Minnesota-based Vascudyne Inc., human tissue blood vessels are grown in a bioreactor and then the living cells are removed, leaving behind the natural collagen-based structure. Because no cells remain, the body does not reject it, and the vessel can be stored on a hospital shelf until a surgeon needs it. After implantation, the patient’s own cells move in and gradually endothelialize the structure into living tissue.
The case discussed during the EACTS meeting involved a patient who received the lab-grown vessel during a CABG. Imaging of the graft has repeatedly shown the vessel remains open, with blood flowing normally, for two years. There were no adverse events with clotting in addition to no abnormal swelling of the vessel, bleeding, major cardiac events or issues related to the device. This was the longest documented clinical patency reported to date for a Vascudyne tissue-engineered vessel.
“For 60 years, bypass surgery has relied on a vessel taken from the patient’s own body, and often what is borrowed is not ideal,” Zeeshan Syedain, PhD, chief executive officer of Vascudyne, said in a statement. “In fact, we have heard from many patients about the pain of that second wound in their leg. We want to give surgeons a better option and spare patients the second incision."
He said the positive two-year human results and recently published 18-month data in sheep without anticoagulation in the journal Nature Communications is very promising for the future of the technology.[1]
"We believe our bioengineered blood vessels have the potential to transform not only coronary bypass surgery, but many cardiovascular diseases,” Syedain said.
Vascudyne has also recently completed enrollment in its European CABG feasibility clinical study designed to shed more light on the real-world durability of the artificial vessel technology.
There are more than 400,000 bypass surgeries performed each year in the United States and Europe, yet many saphenous vein grafts fail within the first year, and roughly one in five patients do not have a good vein to use.
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: [email protected]